Chen Yuntian, Zhang Ruo-Yang, Xiong Zhongfei, Hang Zhi Hong, Li Jensen, Shen Jian Qi, Chan C T
School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China.
Wuhan National Laboratory of Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 16;10(1):3125. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-10974-8.
The concept of gauge field is a cornerstone of modern physics and the synthetic gauge field has emerged as a new way to manipulate particles in many disciplines. In optics, several schemes of Abelian synthetic gauge fields have been proposed. Here, we introduce a new platform for realizing synthetic SU(2) non-Abelian gauge fields acting on two-dimensional optical waves in a wide class of anisotropic materials and discover novel phenomena. We show that a virtual non-Abelian Lorentz force arising from material anisotropy can induce light beams to travel along Zitterbewegung trajectories even in homogeneous media. We further design an optical non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm system which results in the exotic spin density interference effect. We can extract the Wilson loop of an arbitrary closed optical path from a series of gauge fixed points in the interference fringes. Our scheme offers a new route to study SU(2) gauge field related physics using optics.
规范场的概念是现代物理学的基石，而合成规范场已成为许多学科中操控粒子的一种新方法。在光学领域，已经提出了几种阿贝尔合成规范场的方案。在此，我们介绍了一个新平台，用于在一类广泛的各向异性材料中实现作用于二维光波的合成SU(2)非阿贝尔规范场，并发现了新现象。我们表明，由材料各向异性产生的虚拟非阿贝尔洛伦兹力甚至可以在均匀介质中诱导光束沿颤动轨迹传播。我们进一步设计了一个光学非阿贝尔阿哈罗诺夫-玻姆系统，该系统会产生奇特的自旋密度干涉效应。我们可以从干涉条纹中的一系列规范固定点提取任意闭合光路的威尔逊圈。我们的方案为利用光学研究与SU(2)规范场相关的物理提供了一条新途径。
